From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishsublimatesub‧li‧mate /ˈsʌblɪmeɪt/ verb [intransitive, transitive] technicalSYSS to use the energy that comes from sexual feelings to do something, such as work or art, that is more acceptable to your society —sublimation /ˌsʌbləˈmeɪʃən/ noun [uncountable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
sublimate• In this respect his predatory instincts were sublimated for the welfare of family and community.• It was the 1950s, and we were poor and chaste, and we sublimated furiously.• One method whereby the aggressive and destructive energies of mankind are sublimated is through work.• I must learn to sublimate my desire for my own perch by feeling happy for Aunt Louise sitting there.• Once again, I felt that if I did not somehow sublimate my pain, I should be irretrievably lost.• Players have to sublimate their egos for the good of the team.• Nurses are no longer expected to sublimate their feelings behind starchy officiousness as has been the case in the not so distant past.• Writers like Yamamoto and Yamauchi and even Mori do not so fully sublimate their losses.Origin sublimate (1400-1500) Latin past participle of sublimare “to raise”, from sublimis; → SUBLIME1 